Little Curses
by Adverage
Summary: Ruby's never had much luck dating but Belle's out to break the body count. Simple cutesy stuff for my first fic in the fandom.
1. Part One

Belle was four glasses in to what Ruby assumed was another mid-day iced tea bender. She had spent the last three days in the same booth at Granny's, always from twelve to two and never intending to let on that something was bothering her despite Ruby's multiple inquiries. Instead she would look nervous, shift her glass around a bit on the table and reassure her that there was nothing wrong. Ruby had taken to refreshing the pitcher of iced tea every hour and keeping it right beside her behind the counter, she even made sure Belle's booth was stocked with sugar packets every morning before she came in and the entire effort made her feel ridiculous.

"Ruby?"

"What? Oh, sorry, what can I get you?"

Emma had been standing at the bar for several seconds observing Ruby's fascination with the ice to liquid ratio in Belle's latest drink.

"Sorry, were you about to…?"

Emma pointed behind her towards the booths, eyebrow raised.

"No, no, just thought she needed a refill."

"Right, be careful, you'll singe your eyebrows trying to lie that much."

With a smirk Emma sidled her way onto one of the stools, "I've got a crazy idea, why don't you go over and talk to her?"

"I have, she won't tell me what's wrong."

"Sounds to me like you're asking the wrong question. Go ahead, I'll watch the bar."

"What should I say? I know I already asked four times but why are you here?"

"Try 'how are you?'"

Ruby pulled the tie on her apron and whipped it onto the counter trying to convey thanks without exposing her enthusiasm. At the sight of her on her way over Belle straightened up and readjusted her half-full cup on its napkin, the condensation on the glass had long since left a soggy footprint. She set the ice tea down on the edge of the table, "Hi."

Belle smiled up at her, hands fidgeting in her lap, "Hey."

"Are you sure I can't get you anything?"

"Oh," She looked suddenly terrified; "I'm taking up a booth without ordering anything aren't I? I'm sorry, I can go."

Her hand went beside her to grab her coat but before she could stand up Ruby slid into the booth across from her.

"No, that's not what I meant. Stay….How are you?"

"I don't know, fine."

She looked as if she expected something unsavory to burst through the door at any moment and kept glimpsing between her glass, the door and Ruby.

"You sure?"

The flickering stopped and Belle focused instead, entirely on her. It was, for all their friendship and familiarity, singularly unnerving.

"I wanted to ask you about a date."

The tension of the mounting unknown dissipated into a smile, whatever overblown terror Ruby was concocting now seemed silly. Of course, Belle would be the girl who would spend three days chugging ice teas because of dating advice. She thought better of chuckling, as Belle seemed legitimately frightened.

"I don't know that I'm the best person to ask about that."

"Oh."

She looked confused.

"I mean, not that I wouldn't love to help but I don't have the best track record, in fact I have more of a body count."

Belle looked a bit like she was hearing a different language from the one she'd expected and the bewilderment was beginning to convince Ruby she'd misunderstood the question.

"Sorry, I guess that's not really what you want to hear."

"No, it's fine, but that's ridiculous. I'm sure you can date."

"Seeing that every guy who's even looked at me has ended up maimed or dead I don't really want to see what damage a date would do."

Belle returned focus to her ice tea looking like she was somewhere else, "Well, situations haven't really been suitable for romance lately. I'm sure once things calm down, once we get back to our world maybe…"

That was hopeful and it suited Belle well enough but Ruby knew how it'd been before and how it would be again. The curse had complicated the problem; she had so many people in her head adding anyone else didn't seem like a great idea.

"I don't think so, I'm pretty much cursed."

Meaning it in jest did not remove its bite of truth that was for her two-fold. Belle looked like she'd been electrocuted, "Ruby, you're not cursed….well, at least not cursed like that. I don't think they even make curses like that."

Ruby smiled, "I'll believe that when my next boyfriend isn't torn in half."

"Okay," Belle spoke nearly before Ruby had finished her sentence.

"What?"

"I'll go on a date with you, if I live you're not cursed."

Ruby didn't realize how far she'd leaned over the table or her own incredulousness, Belle meanwhile looked like a highschooler more determined than afraid.

"You're serious?"

"Yeah, now you should answer. I know you don't think so but even asking you out in a fun 'you're not cursed' can be very intimidating."

"Uh, sure."

Belle's whole face nearly cracked with the instantaneous brightness of her smile, "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well I am not going to take you here obviously, so, let me think something up?"

Ruby's responsive vocabulary had been limited to nodding and confirmations as she comprehended exactly what she was agreeing to. She'd never actually been on a date, not a proper 'pick you up at seven' date that was typical of this world and the only thing she might classify as a date in her world had ended in her eating somebody. Her own continued agreement was beginning to frighten her; nothing good had ever come of dating. She was so busy considering the logistics that she couldn't spare a thought to consider what dating might imply.

"I'll call you."

Once again Ruby nodded and was surprised to see Belle grabbing her jacket again to leave, she was snapped out of her automation.

"Oh, what advice did you need about dating?"

Belle smiled, "Maybe a crash-course will help me figure it out."

Then she watched her walk out, to her surprise actually watched her walk out, paid attention to the whole thing: the way she had a bit of trouble tugging on her coat, how she walked in her heels, and the exact measurement of the angle at which she turned her hips. Only when the door jingled closed behind her did she get up to return to the bar.

Emma appeared to be in suspense, "So? How'd it go? I mean, she left."

Ruby wasn't looking at her, she was still considering what she might have agreed to with a furrowed brow, "We're going on a date."

"Oh."

Emma spent a second looking confused before repeating herself, "Oh! Wow, that's great, I had no idea that you guys were…but that's great."

That was about when she started considering the implications of dating.

"Oh, no, not like that. Just like a fun, girls night kind of date."

"Right, of course," Emma didn't look convinced, "But still a date."

"Yeah, I mean, I was talking about how I can't go on dates and she….you don't think she?"

"Iiiii, uh, I don't know. Do you?"

Emma pointed between the booth and Ruby as some form of question.

Did she? The outline of Belle leaving was now blazing vividly in her imagination, had she been staring? Had anyone noticed? She'd been right that conditions hadn't exactly tended towards romance since they'd all had their memories returned. Ruby had never had any reservations towards gender, when you share your mind with something that doesn't subscribe to any sort of human social standard very little of your own emotions tended to shock you.

"I mean, she's gorgeous."

"Yes, she is that."

It was more the idea that she could like anyone, that she did like anyone.

"I mean, I guess, if I had to say so then yeah, sure."

"Well then I'm happy for you and I have to go pick up my son. I hope you have a nice time on your date."

Suddenly Ruby was very afraid, how was she expected to go on a date? Much less with a pretty girl whose intentions were now vague and threatening. The panic must have read plainly.

"You'll do great."

"Right."


	2. Part Two

The urge to call and cancel was overwhelming but as far as she could tell there were no excuses that would even sound plausible and the truth, 'I'm afraid this might lead to something emotional, unknown and therefore scary' didn't exactly have a great ring to it. Not to mention Belle hadn't even called with the details and coming up with an obligation for a date and time that were not even specified sort of gave it away.

"You could use the wolf thing."

Emma had finally had to abandon her for a previously scheduled engagement with Henry but had suggested somewhat desperately (and in the nicest way) that she go 'freak out' to Mary-Margaret who was in general 'better at that kind of stuff.' Emma wasn't exactly the type for dealing with frantic young women.

Ruby should have suspected that David would be over; true love seemed to have replaced his day job. Mary-Margaret was baking something for the benefit of someone else and had managed to fill the loft from floor to ceiling with the smell of sweets, David was reading the paper; it was all very domestic.

But that was good, they deserved a little domestic.

"Oh right David, that unscheduled freak full-moon we're having, not to mention Belle knows Ruby has full control of the wolf."

"It was just a suggestion."

Mary-Margaret pulled another batch of cookies out of the oven and set them down on the stove-top to cool. She had, of course, made extra but the plate in front of Ruby was untouched. David heaved himself up off the couch and walked over to grab one.

"I still don't understand why you don't just go on the date, Belle's great."

"She knows Belle's great, that's not the problem."

They had mostly just sort of been talking about the problem between themselves; Ruby hadn't spoken for a while.

"So what's the problem?"

David had always been a charge into things headfirst kind of guy.

"Oh, come on, we both know how much pain romance can open you up to no matter the circumstances. So in this world there aren't dungeons and sleeping curses, doesn't mean there isn't heartache and-"

Ruby had been looking progressively more worried, "Whoa, whoa whoa, you're talking true love. I don't even think I can do true love, not to mention, I don't even know if that was her intention, for all I know, this is just a fun excuse to hang out like we normally do."

Mary-Margaret put on her sympathetic 'you're not admitting something to yourself' face, "Ruby, if you're this worried about it then I think there might be something to consider."

"If it's meant to be it'll work out."

"Not helpful David, remember this world doesn't work like ours."

Even without explicitly stating it was obvious that of all the differences between their worlds, that was Mary-Margaret's least favorite.

Ruby smiled at the notion, wouldn't that be nice if either the wolf followed this world's rules or dating followed theirs, it's was the being stuck between the two that's was causing the problem.

"I vote you go on the date, Mary-Margaret?"

"Okay, my dating life is not a democracy and you are definitely not the Prince of it."

Then Ruby's phone rang and the room went silent; the Caller-ID confirmed her fears.

"What if I just don't pick it up?"

Mary-Margaret looked at her disapprovingly.

"I know, I know, okay."

She took a deep breath and hit answer.

"Hi."

"Hey, so okay, I think I found a date thing to do but it's a has to be tonight kind of thing which I know is sudden and if you have plans already, or work, I understand."

Ruby was listening to how her accent made the words sound and forgot that she'd intended to come up with an excuse and the abruptness of this proposition would have been a perfect one. Instead she said, "No I'm not doing anything tonight."

Mary-Margaret beamed, it sounded like Belle must have too.

"Great, okay, so here's the thing, I would offer to pick you up but me and cars never really…"

"Of course, I understand, I'll get you around…?"

"Nine? I know that's late but this is kind of a late night thing, I promise it's worth it though, or it should be from what I've read."

Even as her panic increased she was nodding, realizing Belle couldn't see her and then having to articulate herself, "Nine, and that's fine tomorrow's a Sunday so Granny doesn't need me at work until the church crowd."

"Perfect."

Her accent made the word perfect sound like something shiny, in the kitchen Mary-Margaret was nearly jumping up and down and even David was leaning in closer.

"Then I will see you at nine."

"I will see you then also."

Ruby cringed at the awkwardness of her own response and waited to hear the line go dead. It didn't.

"Are you going to hang up?"

"Uh, I was waiting for you? Sorry."

It was as if Mary-Margaret had heard Belle's response and had her heart melted, Ruby was surprised she could survive day to day whilst feeling that much joy for other people. Maybe Ruby's heart was a little melted too.

"Oh, no, that's fine, okay."

She hung up feeling like she'd forgotten to breathe through the whole conversation and became suddenly self-aware that Belle had been able to hear that.

Mary-Margaret had a sixth sense for insecurity, "You did great." She had suddenly gone to work, struck by an idea she tore a plate from the cupboard and piled some cookies onto it, "You should bring her these."

David smiled and grabbed two or three of the cookies for his trip back to the couch, "See? Everything works out."

The car thing worried her, the library (and by association Belle's apartment) was maybe a block if that away from the diner and while she appreciated the after school special feel of picking someone up for a date in her somewhat well-loved red muscle-car it meant that they were going somewhere not within walking distance which only stood to widen the realm of frightening options. On some subconscious level Ruby was aware that she was a girl who had helped win a war by turning into a wolf but was afraid of a date that for all she knew was a harmless excuse to hang out together and that feelings are ridiculous and cruel.

She was wearing her hair down, which was normally more trouble than it was worth but trying to determine what hairstyle said, 'I don't know if you have romantic feelings for me and don't want to make you feel awkward by putting a lot of effort into how I look' was impossible and she'd given up after an hour of frustration. Her outfit followed a similar theme, sexy but not provocative. It was a difficult balance to strike given the extremes of her wardrobe. She didn't want to be late but had realized that the drive took a grand total of five seconds and so her good intentions had her sitting in her car in front of Granny's trying to figure out when was the right time to put it in drive so she could be across the street at the library at exactly nine. She was even rehearsing greetings to herself like a nervous teenager, she had settled on hello and a compliment but had no opportunity to use them as someone tapped on the driver's side window and she nearly concussed herself jumping in her seat. Ruby could hear a muffled, "I am so sorry" through her closed window; Belle had her hand over her mouth looking aghast with a picnic basket tucked under her arm.

At the sight of it Ruby felt a sharp tug of dread behind her navel. Once she finished rubbing the ache out of the top of her head she indicated the passenger's seat and Belle circled the front of the car to get in.

"Hi."

"Hey."

Belle looked nice in one of her dark colored sundresses over leggings and a leather jacket Ruby had never seen before, she set the picnic basket on her lap and Ruby looked at it like it was a bear cub and it's mother might be lurking anywhere. "Sorry about your head, I just realized it was kind of silly to make you drive across the street to pick me up."

"No, it's fine, I was just…talking to myself."

Belle raised her eyebrows; she seemed surprisingly calm relative to earlier. Ruby was holding the steering wheel with stiff arms; if she didn't find a way to make herself more comfortable this was going to be torture. She exhaled louder than she meant to, "I have to tell you something…"

For a second Ruby couldn't recognize Belle's expression, "Of course."

"I've never been on a date before."

Belle laughed, "Right, actually neither have eye. I mean, I got burgers with Rumplest-…Mr. Gold once but I don't think that counts. Even before the curse was broken I was locked up so I didn't even go on a date when I didn't know I'd never been on a date. If that makes sense."

Ruby nodded.

"Anyway, I thought maybe we could figure it out. I mean, it's just a date right? The two of us should be able to handle it."

She had been reassured enough to relax and smile but the handling of it did not seem as easy as spoken, especially if her record held true, Ruby heard the echo of 'everything works out' and put the car in drive.

"Where are we going?"

Belle took a second, considering it.

"Will it really frighten you if I just say drive into the woods?"


	3. Part Three

Seeing Ruby's expression of panic Belle had laughed, told her to start on her way out of town and pulled out a phone she barely knew how to operate.

"Okay, I have directions on this thing somewhere."

It looked like she was having trouble with the touch screen, Ruby had to remind herself that the twenty-eight year transition period allowed to her and the rest of the town had been completely denied Belle. Instead she'd been isolated, the thought of it now made Ruby angrier than she remembered.

"Pretty cool isn't it? Have you been on the Internet yet? It's insane."

"Are you being serious?"

That was kind of adorable, Ruby was smiling.

"What? Is that not 'cool'? In our world it was hard enough to get your hands on whole books, in this world there are libraries and you can look anything you want up on a phone."

Belle was stuck trying to enter what looked like a specific longitude and latitude into her directions app and Ruby was getting a little nervous about driving without knowing her destination. There was, however, a relief in the fact that this did not seem to be headed for uncomfortable romantic territory and the day's dread was most likely due to over-thinking of a simple situation. Still she remembered what Snow had said about her being worried meaning there was more too it. It was dark in the car but the light from Belle's phone lit her face in a kind of synthetic blue, she was using the picnic basic as a lap-desk and looked the same way she did when she was reading, it was how she looked when she was figuring something out or thinking it over. She recognized it from the times she'd gotten her to try new food or maybe even when she was looking at Ruby.

True Love in all its grandeur had never really worked out for her, in fact the more she looked for it the more people generally ended up dead. While love had woken Snow from her sleeping curse it hadn't done anything to protect Peter and to be honest she'd become disenchanted by the whole idea: love wasn't meant to work for monsters and 'like' seemed like a silly thing to try if 'love' was never going to be in the picture.

"There we go, okay, there should be a service road right…shoot we passed it."

There was nowhere else to turn around and Ruby had broken many laws by simply doing so in the middle of the road and at that a bit faster than she probably should have so Belle was left holding onto her picnic basket and giggling. The service road was less of a road and more two parallel lines of gravel.

"You aren't planning to take me down here and kill me are you?"

"Of course not, I'm clever, if that was the goal I would hardly have left all the evidence of asking you on a date."

"Strangely not comforting."

"It's about to get more uncomfortable." Belle indicated the windshield, or more specifically what lay beyond it. "We're going to have to walk the rest of the way."

In front of them the gravel path ended abruptly in some weeds, Ruby stopped the car, nervous.

"I know, I know. Should have warned you. You still with me?"

Ruby hesitated, it was funny- for all of her jokes about murder she felt completely safe.

"Yeah, of course, just let me get my jacket."

Undoing her seatbelt she stretched around behind her into the back seat, without thinking her arm brushed Belle. It was like shaking a tree; suddenly she could smell her shampoo and she didn't lean away.

"Sorry."

"You're fine."

The path through the woods was relatively clear. Ruby knew the forest well and knew there were worse paths they could have taken, the trees here weren't as thick and were at least a bit familiar though she couldn't recall her impression of how safe it was.

Belle had to carry the picnic basket with both hands.

"Let me."

Ruby grabbed the basket in stride with one hand, their fingers touched on the handle but Belle didn't let go.

"Come on, I couldn't let you carry it. We're on a date, I'm trying to be a gentlemen."

It was difficult to pay attention, she didn't know if it was her imagination or the wolf but she felt like she could feel Belle's pulse just by touching her pinkie finger. If she was right her heart was racing.

"Let the girl with the wolf powers be the gentleman."

This was feeling less and less like a girls night, Belle let go.

The basket was heavier than she thought it'd be but still barely a chore for her to carry. She could smell bread and bounced the basket one or twice in her hand, something clinked.

"I brought wine, I remembered when we planned our imaginary girls night you mentioned wine."

She recalled Belle helping her dodge a bullet with Billy.

"I didn't know what you liked but figured you were a red type of girl."

"Actually white."

Belle made a face as if she was reliving a very embarrassing fall.

"I'm kidding, but trying to get me drunk on my first date. People will talk."

It was an attempt at testing the flirting-waters but Belle didn't miss a beat, "Let them talk."

That didn't help at all.

Belle stopped to peer past a tree to her right, "Last leg of the journey."

Taking a step off the path she grabbed Ruby's free hand, it took her a moment to react and she was tugged forward but once she regained herself she curled her fingers against Belle's. She could tell for sure now that her pulse was above normal, just having her fingertips on it meant she could hear it. Wolf thing.

They were headed towards what looked like a clearing but more than that a hill, it sloped up out of the trees a bit and was lit by moonlight. For her first time planning a date Belle had pulled out all the stops, moonlit picnic: Ruby had to admit she was impressed.

Even before stepping into the clearing Ruby knew the moon was a crescent, a waxing crescent to be exact. When she was younger her Granny had made a point of teaching her the phases of the moon and since the reason for those lessons had become apparent she kept strict track of its progression. On the top of the hill she set down the picnic basket, Belle opened it and tugged out a blanket for the grass though they didn't really need one. Ruby had for some reason convinced herself that Belle had had dragged her out into this particular part of the forest for the sole purpose of a picnic and realized her mistake when she didn't sit and instead produced a book from her picnic basket. She opened it to a marked page and lit it with her phone.

"Let's see."

"What are you doing?"

"Tonight is the only clear night in Maine for the next week and a half and I wanted to show you the stars."

Ruby had always figured that love, or whatever you wanted to call it, was a revelation. She remembered the first time she'd seen Peter, he'd come over to the cottage to drop off a set of arrow heads for Granny but it was not the moment of seeing him that had done it but later when he'd made an excuse to stay a little longer, something silly like repairing a door hinge for security and Granny had bought it while he'd been looking at her the whole time. It was something like the wolf, the wolf which was always there but never whole until she let it be and Belle standing on top of the hill with her thinking things over face on, her nose inches from a book she was trying to read in the dark, and it felt whole, more whole than ever.

"More specifically…" Belle looked from the book to the sky a few times, "That."

She pointed towards one of the horizons; Ruby couldn't tell which but walked right up beside her to follow what she was indicating. Maybe she got a little closer than was necessary as it wasn't hard to tell what she was pointing out, a red star amongst what must have been a constellation. Still she took a second to admit she saw it.

"What's that?"

"Antares, the Ruby star. I found it while I was reading."

"You're kidding."

"Nope, heart of Scorpius but here's the kicker, we have one in our world too."

"Now way, is that even possible?"

"That I don't know, but I am sure. I used to study star charts. I haven't found any other ones that match but that one is the same. Besides the obvious, I thought it was kind of hopeful, that we won't be stuck between both worlds forever. That things will be good again."

The light on Belle's phone had gone out from disuse and she was no longer looking at the book having found what she needed, instead she was looking at Ruby and Ruby was looking back, so much so that she became self-conscious and jerked back to looking at the sky.

"Are there any wolves up there?"

But as soon as she asked it she sort of wished she hadn't because it had meant something that Belle had taken her not to show her a wolf but a star that shared her name.

"There's Lupus but he's below the horizon this time of year."

It all seemed a bit over-perfect.

"You're sure this is your first date? I mean you got everything so…"

"What?" There was a glance of guilt in her and she disguised it by kneeling down to sort the contents of the picnic basket, she pulled out the bottle of wine.

"I mean, I gotta admit, you're kind of sweeping me off my feet here."

Belle smiled at the basket, not interested in looking up and giving anything away."

"It just seems kind of silly to me that you thought you needed dating advice."

The rustling amid the picnic basket ceased and Belle was still; she looked like she might have been biting her lip.

"Can I tell you something?"

She stood back up, wine in hand.

"Of course."

"And it won't be weird?"

The girl's night façade slipped another notch.

"It takes a lot to make things weird with me."

Belle didn't look entirely convinced and it took her another second to speak.

"I didn't need dating advice," She quirked her lip and looked to the side as if embarrassed, "I was there to ask you on a date. I had planned to do it a few days ago so it wouldn't be so sudden, Maine doesn't have many clear nights, but I kept coming into the diner and I couldn't quite…So when you asked me what was wrong I kind of blew it."

Ruby recalled Belle's exact wording 'I wanted to ask you about a date.' She felt stupid, that was why Belle had looked so confused when she responded as she had.

"No you didn't, I misunderstood."

"A little, but I don't blame you I could understand how it might not have been what you expected."

"I feel really stupid," She couldn't help but laugh at herself.

"Oh, no, please don't. When you reacted like you did I thought maybe this was a better way to present the idea but I should have just been honest with you."

It might have scared her more but she realized that were it the other way around, if she had made up the whole thing, the feeling of butterflies she now had would probably have been replaced with disappointment and she preferred the butterflies.

"So this isn't a girls night?"

"If that's all right?"

Belle held out the wine to her, smiling with her brow furrowed the way people did when they were waiting for an unknown response. It was even a pretty expensive looking wine; the label was in another language.

"Yeah."

Looking up she found Belle terrified.

"What?"

"I just thought I saw-

From the bottom of the hill there was a low reverberating growl, Ruby tried to smell what it might be but there was nothing recognizable as animal, instead there was a strange wafting sense of emptiness. The normal smell of the forest was disrupted by something beyond scent and into sense.


	4. Part Four

On instinct she stepped between whatever the noise was and Belle.

At the edge of the moonlight where the hill sloped into the forest she saw three sets of yellow eyes. Had she not known better she might have thought it was a pack which might have explained the strange smell but she didn't know of any werewolves that had survived long past the disbanding of the pack following her mother's death.

These were the kind of wolves that didn't turn back into humans, Ruby had to give this world points for irony.

"Stay back."

The fact that the wolves didn't smell right did not make them any less wolves and she could tell they were aggressive. They had arranged themselves in a hunting formation, with the Alpha in the front and the two others wolves behind him on either side. He kept his great gray head low to the ground and bared his teeth.

"Belle you should run."

"That's not happening."

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"So I won't get hurt."

Ruby couldn't spare the look back at her, taking her eyes off of the front wolf would speed any attack though avoiding one, she knew, was impossible. Was she not so preoccupied with the being attacked by wolves problem she might have dared a bitter 'I told you so.' She wasn't meant for dating, dating for her meant being attacked in the woods. The thought of Belle coming to harm strengthened her resolve, she could take on three wolves easy but doing so while keeping an eye on Belle was a different matter. The idea of Belle being hurt scared her; she wouldn't let it happen and in an attempt to ensure that she grabbed for Belle's hand.

"Stay close."

Belle pressed up against her back, under different circumstances it would have been a much more enjoyable sensation. Her moving caused the first wolf to start its charge; it closed the remaining gape between itself and Ruby with a quick snap. The wolves were bigger up close, unnaturally so, and by no means were they native to the area, the beast tried to take a bite out of her thigh but she caught it in the bottom of the jaw with her knee. It shook its head at the shock of the blow and returned angrier than it had before. This time it lunged higher, she blocked its jaws with her forearm and managed to throw it a good distance away, she knew she wasn't keeping well enough track of the other two wolves and was surprised when she heard the smash whine of pain from beside her. Belle had smacked one of them across the face with the wine bottle and it'd retreated to a safe distance, nursing what must have been a badly injured face. Not being able to tell their locations by smell was hurting Ruby's ability to fight, the third wolf had circled around and now lashed at her back, she knew their tactics having used them herself. They needed to get her down to where they could try for her throat but it wasn't going to happen. Turning around she seized it by the ridge of fur along its spine and pulling her weight she threw it back into on of the others.

They were not normal wolves and being hurt did not discourage them from rallying. Without being able to turn herself there was no way of killing them, beside her Belle held out the busted wine bottle like a sword. How much longer could she protect her definitely? The first wolfs attack had done some damage to her arm, it's teeth had made it through her jacket and she didn't think she'd be able to use it to fend off anything else.

"So about that running thing?"

Belle was on the same page as her if not chapters ahead. Without a doubt Ruby could run fast enough but there was no way Belle could keep up. Again Belle read her mind.

"Could you carry me?"

The alpha wolf was growling again, they were regrouping.

Ruby tried to work out whether or not it would be possible but in terms of risk it was either take the chance running or take the chance getting attacked.

"Stay still."

In a smooth movement Ruby grabbed Belle up under her knees and swept her up against her chest bridal style. She was petite and with Ruby's strength weighed practically nothing but running with anything in your arms made it more difficult. Ruby bolted between the trees, doing her best not to trip and trying to remember the way they'd come. Belle was cradled up against her, arms wrapped around her neck and face buried in her hair, her smell was making it more difficult to pay attention to the way she was going.

Through a few yards of trees the moonlight glinted off the front of the car and she stopped just short of it. Finally still she paused to listen, there was no sound of the wolves crashing through the forest behind them but being that they were abnormal she didn't know if that meant they weren't following or if they had just figured out a way to move silently.

"Um."

She had forgotten that once they'd reached safety she was expected to put Belle down, it felt comfortable to have her there.

"Right! Right."

Ruby set her down as easily as she could.

"I think we're safe."

"Just in case maybe we should…"

Belle indicated the passenger's side of the car, which was probably for the best.

It had gotten cold in the cab in the time they'd been gone and Ruby started the car to crank the heat, reaching for the knob on the dash revealed the damage done on her arm to the passenger's seat and by extension, Belle.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby never considered damage to herself as anything that should concern anyone else but Belle grabbed her arm to have a look at it. It looked like she might have been bleeding.

"Don't worry, I heal fast. Wolf thing."

"No, come one, take your jacket off."

Other people worrying over her made Ruby uncomfortable and she tried to withhold access to her arm but Belle wouldn't let go, she was intent to worry.

"Considering how tonight's gone maybe I shouldn't."

Admittedly she had a pretty crappy sense of humor and admittedly she wanted to point out that in a way she had been right, she could not date.

"What are you talking about? Up until the getting attacked by wolves part I thought we were doing pretty well."

Ruby chuckled, "Yeah, right up until the wolves."

She wasn't as amused as she was pretending, she had been holding out hope that this time might have been different. Now she realized how silly it had been to hope.

"Ruby I-"

"It's not going to work."

"What?"

"You did great, its not you. I like you."

She turned her focus from the steering wheel to Belle who sat looking concerned, her mouth open as she waited for her chance to object. She had on her thinking things over face, even after having just run from wolves she was remarkably pretty.

"I really like you but it's not going to work."

"What's not going to work?"

"I'm not."

She looked away, she felt the burn behind her eyes that meant she might start crying and she didn't want Belle to see.

"I'm not meant for stuff like this, going on dates or girls showing me the stars or…or true love."

They were quiet for a second, Belle had closed her mouth and her eagerness to speak had restrained itself, she swallowed and then asked, "Why?"

"What?"

"Why not? Why can't you be happy with somebody?"

The question caught Ruby off guard; in terms of specifics she'd never defined it. Belle saw her silence as an opportunity to continued speaking, "Because you turn into a wolf? Because you're a beast?"

Belle might have to deal without the eye contact as Ruby was sure she'd soon be crying but she'd make do, still holding Ruby's wounded arm she slid her hand down Ruby's wrist and intertwined their fingers.

"I'm okay, I'm not hurt. Actually, you're hurt and I'm going to make you let me look at it, but I'm fine thanks to you and for your information who are you to tell me that I have to stay away from you?"

Ruby's face was hot; in the dark of the car she could see their hands together.

"I know about 'beasts' and people have tried all their lives to convince them they're monsters, if anything they're the ones who need true love the most."

Ruby thought their hands looked good together.

"So come here."

She looked up from Belle's lap to her face; she had been unable to keep a tear or two from rolling down to her chin.

"Why?"

"Because," Belle bit her lip, "I intend to love you. If you're going to let me?"

Ruby kissed her, leaning over the center console she closed her eyes and kissed her. Without hesitation Belle kissed back, reaching her arms up to wrap them around her neck and arching her chest up, trying to get them closer together over the gear shift. Without thinking of the pain it might cause in her arm she grabbed the front of Belle's jacket and winced. The kissing was good once it started and neither intended to stop it. Belle was small enough to get around the car cab and they stopped long enough for her to climb over the center console onto Ruby's lap, Ruby hit the lever on the side to lean the seat back.

Gold came up from the basement to find one of the side doors into the kitchen open, he didn't delude himself for a moment into thinking he'd left it as such. He didn't do things like that. He also knew exactly why it was open.

"I'm rethinking letting you keep that key."

Belle stepped out from the shadow beside the refrigerator looking furious, without saying anything she set the key on the island.

"You can keep it."

Gold said nothing; he looked from the key to Belle and nodded before starting towards the other room. Belle took a step to follow him, "How dare you?"

Gold paused and turned to face him.

"I saw you. In the forest. You set wolves after us."

"No."

"I saw you Rumple."

"I was not setting wolves after you, there was no danger. If they came close to hurting you I would have called them off."

"They hurt Ruby."

He didn't have a response.

"We agreed. We agreed that we could see other people until I could figure things out. You can't just hurt her."

"I wasn't trying to hurt her."

"What then…?"

She needn't have asked she had puzzled it out as soon as she'd spoken.

"To make her keep believing she couldn't be happy."

Again, Gold didn't speak.

"You of all people."

He might have scoffed, she couldn't tell in the dark but he'd at least made a noise. Belle's face had emptied of expression, her hair was still mussed from earlier activities and her clothing was haphazard at best. She wondered if he could tell.

"I'm sorry Rumple, but I can't let her think that. It's not true and I'm going to prove that to her."


End file.
